This event is unique in recent years, we stand before you with our faces as representatives of Bulgarian judges, prosecutors, investigators and court officials. The reason for this is one – our sincere concern and concern for what we are witnessing. We are law enforcement, we enforce the Constitution and the laws as they are, even when we know they are unprofessional and unsuccessful. However, this does not negate our professional and civic duty to state what we believe – our principles. With the amendments to the Constitution, a step harmful to society was taken. Our position has not changed – we defended her with arguments. This was stated at a briefing by Vladimir Nikolov, chairman of the Association of Prosecutors in Bulgaria.
According to Preslava Petkova, chairman of the Chamber of Investigators in Bulgaria, we should wait for the Constitutional Court to rule and delay the voting of the Law on Judicial Power. “Vices in the basic law, visible to all, will lead to their repeal.“
„For years, processes aimed at subordinating the prosecutor's office to political power have been going on in our country. Maybe because the prosecution is working, the numbers prove it. Insistences are persistently and consistently made that the prosecutor's office is weak, incompetent, non-working, corrupt,” said the spokesperson of the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office, Desislava Petrova.
„The constitutional changes led to the fact that the political quota in the prosecutor's council exceeded the professional one, so that in practice the political one made the decisions, without even a debate. During the discussion of the draft Law on the Judiciary, the voice of the professional community was not heard because that was the political will. A project has been created that suffers from too many and too severe flaws. However, we see our profession as a vocation, it is not a power. It is a responsibility and must remain so. We will fight to protect her from any political influence," she said categorically.
„Unfortunately, this was not heard by the legislator, our elected representatives in the ordinary National Assembly. On the eve of the Day of the Bulgarian Constitution, our professional holiday, it is our duty to say that the amendments concerning the judiciary are unconstitutional, counterproductive and harmful. There is a danger of irreversibly harming the interests of society”, he warned.
In Nikolov's words, the independence of the judiciary is directly threatened. “Basic democratic principles are directly affected – the separation of powers, the unified judicial system was liquidated. We have and will have a prosecutor's office that is directly controlled by the political segment of power. The judicial power is juridical and it must balance control and accountability of the other two powers.“
„The result of all this is a betrayal of the ideas that judicial reform embodies. This is a distortion of everything that we want, that the Bulgarian citizens also want – improving the work of the judicial system. The reform belongs to everyone, not only to individual political parties and organizations. We want the voice of reason and professionalism to be heard, he emphasized.
Nikolov added that there is a second trend at the moment – widely publicized amendments to the Judiciary Act: “Amendments to the law are the central part of the reform, we have been asking for them for years, but not in this way. All stakeholders should be heard, not by dictation and ignoring what the professionals say. We are united around the opinion that the period for public discussion should be extended and the serious work should be done to allow this bill to be a true expression of the aspirations of the citizens and the classes for the improvement of the judicial system.“
Penka Velinova, a member of the Board of the Bulgarian Judges Association, added: “In the beginning, when the constitutional changes were discussed, we did not expect them to be adopted so quickly. We did not participate in the commission in the National Assembly because we did not receive an invitation. Absence of reasons is always a ground for annulment of a law, and it is an extremely serious vice of this law which was passed. Especially when it comes to the Constitution.“
She also said that they are against curtailing the powers of the Attorney General.